•Supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv hold flags at Dam square ahead of the Europa League football match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv, in Amsterdam yesterday
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent two rescue planes to the Netherlands today after Israel football fans were reportedly injured in violence in Amsterdam.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu views the horrifying incident with utmost gravity and demands that the Dutch government and security forces take vigorous and swift action against the rioters, and ensure the safety of our citizens,” his office said in a statement.
The prime minister’s office did not say what led to the “very violent incident against Israeli citizens”, but Dutch media AT5 reported that fights broke out last night between fans at a Europa League match involving Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Ajax.
The report said numerous fights, as well as acts of vandalism, had occurred in the city centre.
“A large number of mobile unit vehicles are present and reinforcements have also been called in,” it said.
The Israeli embassy in the United States said “hundreds” of Maccabi fans were “ambushed and attacked in Amsterdam tonight as they left the stadium following a game”.
In its post on social media platform X, the embassy blamed the incident on a “mob who targeted innocent Israelis”.
A Dutch police spokesperson told ANP news agency that 57 people had been arrested.
Israel’s new foreign minister Gideon Saar said in a statement that he had requested the Dutch government’s assistance in ensuring Israeli citizens’ safe exit from their hotels to the airport.
Images on AT5 showed Dutch police escorting fans back to their hotels.
Yesterday, Amsterdam police said on social media that they were being particularly vigilant in the wake of several incidents, including the tearing down of a Palestinian flag from a building.
A pro-Palestinian rally demonstrating against the Israeli football club’s visit was initially scheduled to take place near the stadium but was relocated by the Amsterdam city council for security reasons.
